All Big Mac outlets in Canada to disappear

It's true. All McDonald's Restaurants in Canada will disappear (so to speak) on March 29. Dan Bingham has the details in his Canpages blog.

An oil spill grows in Brooklyn

Pop quiz:

What's the largest oil spill ever in North America?

Answer:
The 11 million gallons of oil that spilled into Alaska's Prince William Sound 19 years ago when the drunken skipper of the Exxon tanker Valdez piloted the huge ship into the rocks. Right?

True, that was the largest single oil spill into surface waters. But a plume of oil in New York City, apparently in the making for half a century underneath and around the city's Newtown Creek, is estimated to be as large as 17 million gallons or more.

In fact, a report last year by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency suggested that the Newtown spill could be as much as three times larger than the Exxon Valdez disaster.

The scenic Manhattan skyline shimmers above oil-polluted Newtown Creek, an industrial waterway separating Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood from the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens.

National Public Radio's web site has an interesting story and audio report on the spill and current efforts to clean it up.

For the latest on a continuing Exxon Valdez court suit, check out NPR's Supreme Court Hears Exxon Case.

So you want to put a solar panel on your condo...

Let's assume that :

1. You live in a condominium in New Jersey.

2. You're alarmed by the rising cost of your electric bill.

3. You heard that the state is helping pay the cost of installing solar panels on the roofs of some homes and businesses.

4. You figure this is one way to reduce your energy costs and help the environment.

5. But you've also heard that others, like you, have run into major roadblocks when trying to get permission from their condo association boards for the installation of a solar panel installation.

Did you know that a recent change in state law, prompted by complaints from condo owners, now grants you the right to erect solar panels on the roof of your individual unit?

Sounds great, right?

Hold on, partner. As always, it pays to read the fine print.

Jonathan H. Katz outlines the new law's opportunities--and a crucial limitation--in his post "Here comes the sun..." in Stark & Stark's New Jersey Law Blog.

NJ-DEP's busy alerting--and enforcing--in Spring

Spring is here and the enforcement staff at the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has emerged from its winter den.

So far in the month of March, the DEP has already issued four compliance alerts. If you don't want to be bitten, you'd better check them out:

Adoption of Enforcement Enhancement Bill strengthens provisions of environmental statutes, increases penalty authority

DEP Takes Steps to Bring Tire, Compost, & Wood Chip Pile Heights into Conformance with DCA Regulations

DEP Develops Guidelines for Proper Disposal of Household Medication

Smoke from Outdoor Wood Boilers Prohibited

And if you're tempted to think these folks are all growl and no bite, take a look at the lengthy chart of enforcement actions commenced or completed in just the past 14 days.

Sure, it contains dozens of notices of violations--and many may prove to be minor. But, if you work your way down the entire chart, you'll see some significant fines and settlements, including:

• A $20,000 administrative penalty against Forman Glen, Mullica Twp.


• A $10,000 settlement agreement with Newark International Airport


• A $11,250 civil administrative penalty against DuPont Chambers Works, Pennsville


• A $17,500 settlement agreement with Clean Venture, Inc. in Elizabeth


• A $45,000 administrative penalty against Peters Scrap Yard in Trenton


• A $50,000 administrative penalty against JNC Materials in Carteret


• A $250,000 administrative consent order against Chart Corp, Inc in Paterson

And that's just the last 14 days!

Environmental Business News in NJ, PA & NY

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If you're not in charge of public relations at your organization, pass this tip on to the person who is. They'll appreciate the referral.

Why rising gas prices will hurt Jersey less

It may come as small comfort to residents of the Garden State, but steadily rising gas prices will have less of an effect in New Jersey than elsewhere in America.

That's what the smart-growth organization, New Jersey Future, tells us in their most recent issue of Future Facts.

For the first time in years, they say, the statistics indicate that Americans are buying less gasoline and driving fewer miles. But gas prices are likely to continue to rise.

So, why are New Jerseyans likely to suffer less?

Check out Future Facts for the group's answer.

Hang out your wash, Save the planet

I always enjoyed the smell of freshly laundered clothes after they hung to dry on an outdoor clothesline.

And the sound of clean sheets snapping like sails when a breeze stirred up.

When I was a kid, my mother hung out our wash in the back yard.

At 80-something, she still does when weather permits.

When my kids were young, and we lived in a 'starter house' in a 'starter neighborhood,' my wife hung out the wash. Sometimes,

I did too. So did most all of our neighbors. It provided a chance to exchange greetings and maybe some gossip with whomever happened to be putting wash up or taking it down when you were doing the same.

Then we moved to a more affluent neighborhood where, it was made clear to us that "people don't do that here." Apparently, it was an eyesore. A sign that you couldn't afford a clothes dryer. Whatever the reason, it was decidedly déclassé.

If social mores were to change, I admit I probably would not string up the old clothesline. All that schlepping from the basement to the yard. Heavy baskets. Life's too hectic. Who has the time?

Well, apparently, some folks do.

Today, I stumbled upon a post in the blog of the New Jersey law firm of Stark and Stark in which attorney Jonathan H. Katz explores "a growing environmental movement that has been dubbed 'The Right to Dry.' "

Did you know that a study found that "(clothes) dryers can emit up to a ton of carbon dioxide per household every year"?

What for me is a nostalgic sensory experience is, for others, an environmental statement, a legal 'right,' and the subject of legislative debate.

Whether or not you're committed to letting it all hang out, I think you'll enjoy Mr. Katz's post.

Broadwater decision falls to NY governor

"WASHINGTON - Approving the Broadwater liquefied natural gas barge Thursday, federal energy regulators took swipes at political leaders in New York and Connecticut who want to keep it out of the Long Island Sound and tossed a hot potato directly into the lap of newly-minted Gov. David Paterson, whose administration can approve or kill it."

That's the lead to yesterday's Newsday story about the latest development in Shell's controversial proposal to install a liquefied natural gas offloading facility in Long Island Sound. The Hartford Courant's covered the decision today in State Blasts Broadwater Ruling .

(For more background, see our previous posts: How will Spitzer's exit affect LNG project? and The latest shot fired in the LI Sound LNG war )

The reaction in the blogosphere has just begun. Early entries include Sphere, Connecticut Energy Blog, Royal Dutch Shell , and SEABGB. No doubt, more to come.

Rendell hails ethanol but looks beyond it

Like a baseball coach who praises his current squad but has an eye on up-and-comers in his farm system, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell on March 13 praised developers of the state's first ethanol plant at its groundbreaking ceremony but days later was encouraging research to hasten the day when fuel can be produced from such cellulosic sources as switch grass and wood waste.

Making fuel from corn is what BioEnergy LLC’s will be doing at its $265 million ethanol biorefinery now under construction in Clearfield County. It's Pennsylvania’s first such facility and will be one of the largest in the nation.

The plant is expected to produce 100 million gallons of ethanol when operational in 2010--among the largest outputs east of the Mississippi and among the top 10 in the nation--and create at least 110 jobs.

Pennsylvania taxpayers played a significant role, contributing a total of $17.4 million to get the project off the ground.

On March 17, the governor told members of the Pennsylvania Association of Conservation Districts that corn-based ethanol was the "near-term alternative," a "technologically and economically viable alternative that can be put into our supply today to reduce our dependence on foreign oil."

But, he added that he sees cellulosic ethanol technology as "more promising for the state's future and the environment."

Rendell plans to convene a cellulosic biofuels summit in Pennsylvania later this year. His administration is already investing in private research and development projects focusing on cellulosic ethanol that may be produced from biomass materials like switch grass, crop residues, small-diameter trees and agricultural waste.

The developers of the state's first ethanol plant apparently are also looking to the future. BioEnergy plans to build a cellulosic research and development pilot plant next to the ethanol biorefinery to test different types of biomass including organic wastes.

How will Spitzer's exit affect LNG project?

Even before Eliot Spitzer's announcement yesterday that he is resigning as governor of New York, Connecticut politicians opposed to the proposed construction of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) platform in Long Island Sound were preparing to lobby Spitzer's replacement.

The Hartford Courant reported on Tuesday that State Senate President Donald Williams "wants Connecticut to reach out to his (Spitzer's) lieutenant governor and persuade him to oppose Broadwater."

Broadwater Energy is a consortium of Shell Oil and TransCanada Pipelines Ltd. that is seeking to build a $700 million terminal some 9 miles from Long Island, N.Y., and 10 miles from the Connecticut shoreline.

Williams noted that Spitzer's administration was expected to make a decision soon on state permits for the proposed LNG terminal.

The project is opposed by numerous political leaders in Connecticut, including Governor M. Jodi Rell, and the state's vociferous Attorney General Richard Blumenthal.

See our most recent post on the issue: The latest shot fired in the LI Sound LNG war

************************************************************

On Monday, when the news of the Spitzer sex scandal began to break, environmental writer Tom Andersen's blog, SPHERE, published a post under the mischievous headline:

Expect Broadwater to Try to Influence Governor Spitzer with Results of Bogus Opinion Survey (although as of this afternoon, he may be preoccupied)

In it, Andersen writes about an email he received from a woman who said she lived on Long Island and had received a phone call last Thursday...

... from a fellow who said he was from an “independent research company” asking me if I would like to take a survey...

You'll learn a lot about public opinion polls by taking a few minutes to read what Andersen's tipster had to report. (Just click on the link above).

Folks on both sides of this issue are hunkering down for a whiz-bang public opinion battle. It should be fun to watch.

And it may serve as a preview of coming attractions in New Jersey where ExxonMobil proposes to construct its own LNG receiving terminal 20 miles off the coast.

See: Offshore NJ natural gas proposal draws rapid & rabid response

************************************************************
POSTSCRIPT: Denise Civiletti, a Broadwater opponent, writes in her blog, Civiletti, that opponents who had been trying to get a meeting for some time with Gov. Spitzer now realize that the date on which they finally succeeded, February 11, was the same day that the governor reportedly was busy arranging an assignation with a high-priced hooker two days later at a Washington, D. C. hotel. She speculates about this in: What was on his mind? Not Broadwater!

Disclosure when nature exceeds DEP limits?

Can a municipal planning board require, as a condition of approval, that a developer provide individual deed notices as to the presence of naturally-occurring environmental conditions (such as arsenic levels) that exceed New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s unrestricted soil use standard?

Yes, a state appellate court has ruled.

In the blog, New Jersey Zoning Watch, Saul Ewing attorney Philip Morin provides the background to the decision--and discusses its implications. You can read it here.

The latest shot fired in the LI Sound LNG war

If you have not been following the verbal and written attacks and threatened law suits from Connecticut's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal --all designed to sink BroadWater Energy's plan to construct a liquefied natural gas platform in Long Island Sound--get yourself up to date by reading:

Connecticut's LNG solution? Put it in Jersey
NY State must kill Broadwater to benefit public
New York postpones LNG facility decision
NY and CT face off over LNG terminal

With that background, now check out Broadwater Energy's response. It came today in the form of a letter to the editor of Newsday from John Hritcko, BroadWater's senior vice president and regional project director. We provide it below in its entirety:

"States win if Broadwater dies" by Richard Blumenthal implores us to repudiate "a false dichotomy between environmental protection and energy supply." Yet, his arguments ignore the facts and widen the perceived chasm between energy and the environment. Blumenthal correctly points out that New York and Connecticut need more natural gas to feed a growing demand for energy, as well as to fuel cleaner power plants. Indeed, Connecticut's own 2007 Energy Plan, published by the Connecticut Energy Advisory Board, recommends developing liquefied natural gas import facilities.

But the Connecticut attorney general claims that schemes such as Safe Harbor Energy and BlueOcean Energy, both primarily serving New Jersey and neither having undergone review, can somehow be better than Broadwater in delivering natural gas to Connecticut and New York.

Blumenthal's record reveals his penchant for regulation through litigation, opposing every energy infrastructure project that could bring down the cost of energy in the region, shutting off electricity to Long Island and now threatening New York with lawsuits. This will lead us to consensus on the shared interests of energy and environment?

Businesses and working families in the region need relief from our high-priced energy. Blumenthal perpetuates the myth that we can't have conventional energy and a clean environment.

Broadwater would deliver plentiful, affordable natural gas in a safe, environmentally responsible manner, but we need enlightened, confident leadership that is willing to face the difficult challenges of achieving energy security.

Week's top environmental & political news

Every day, we select a few of the top environmental and political stories appearing in our newsletter, EnviroPolitics, and post them
on our website for free public use.

Click the links below to access the stories for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and beyond that appeared during
the week of March 3-7, 2008.

March 7 2008
March 6 2008
March 5 2008
March 4 2008
March 3 2008

To receive free daily alerts when our Environmental & Political News page is updated, just send a blank email to: eptopdailynews@aweber.com

0-for-3 offshore wind power tries Jersey

Energy needs continue to grow in the Northeast. At a point not too far in the future we are told that the demand for electricity will exceed the ability of the region's aging infrastructure's to keep pace.

Since the old solution to the problem--building new generating plants powered by coal and natural gas--have fallen out of favor primarily for environmental reasons, and persistent safety fears (and enormous construction costs) continue to slow the prospects for a nuclear-power revival, you'd think that wind turbines would be near the top of the short lists of energy alternatives.

Especially when wind farms can be built off the coast, almost out of sight, and in neighborhoods where the NIMBY-ite whales and birds can't scare any politicians with their votes.

But the industry's record has been anything but promising so far.

New Jersey's Board of Public Utilities announced this week that it has received proposals from three developers to build a total of 116 wind turbines some 16 miles off the coast. The first project, a joint venture involving the state's largest utility, PSEG, calls for construction of 96 wind turbines arranged in a rectangular grid off the coast of Cape May and Atlantic counties. The wind farm would be virtually invisible from land, even though the wind turbines would rise between 450 and 500 feet above the water.

The second, proposed by Blue Water Wind (the company seeking to build a wind farm off the coast of Delaware) envisions a 348-megawatt wind farm, consisting of 116 turbines located more than 15 miles southeast of Atlantic City.

The third bid comes from Fishermen's Energy of New Jersey, a consortium representing companies operating fishing vessels and owners of waterfront docks in South Jersey. Its proposal envisions 66 turbines, built in two phases, at an undisclosed distance off Atlantic City.

As Star-Ledger reporter Tom Johnson noted in his story today on the wind farm proposals, the projects "would help the Corzine administration reach ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gases, while shifting electricity production to cleaner sources of energy, such as wind and solar power"

But "...with project costs running upwards of $1 billion, the projects need to overcome numerous environmental and economic hurdles at a time when the commercial feasibility of wind power remains a question..."

You can say that again. Following is the history to date of coastal wind farm development in the Northeast.

In Massachusetts, Cape Wind Associates hopes to erect 130 wind turbines some 14 miles off the island of Nantucket. The project is expected to produce an average of 170 megawatts of electricity at any given time, about 75% of the average electricity demand for Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket island combined.

81% of Massachusetts adults support the project, 61% of Cape Cod residents support it, and only 14% of adults oppose it. Unfortunately for the project developers, one of the opponents is Robert Kennedy, Jr. whose family's Kennedy Compound is within sight of the proposed wind farm. Robert's uncle (and U.S. Senator) Edward Ted Kennedy has done his part to kill the project by adding a section to a Coast Guard reauthorization bill that would have banned any offshore wind project that is sited within 1.5 miles of a shipping channel.

A federal environmental impact study on the project is nearing completion but the jury's still out on this one.

In New York State, soaring costs led Long Island Power Authority Chairman Kevin Law last summer to terminate a controversial plan to build a 40-turbine wind farm off the coast of Jones Beach. When LIPA first announced the plan, it estimated the cost to be between $150 million and $200 million. But LIPA did not disclose actual costs until Newsday filed a Freedom of Information Law in 2007.

Initially, LIPA denied the request, but on appeal it provided limited and outdated information disclosing that FPL Energy's winning bid for the project in 2003 was $356 million. Newsday later reported that the cost had ballooned to $650 million. By the time the project was canceled, the LIPA was admitting to a total cost just shy of $700 million.

In Delaware, "Eager to become the first northeast state to supplant a chunk of its fossil-fuel-derived energy with wind power, Delaware's Public Service Commission has been all but flogging the state's largest electricity producer, Delmarva Power, into a long-term contract with upstart wind farm developer, Bluewater Wind."

That's what we reported on September 28, 2007 in our post A financial windshift for Delaware energy?

But the project has stalled in recent months and is now the subject of renewed hearing in the Delaware legislature. On February 20, we were writing in DE's wind-power debate has implications for NJ that:

"The battle over a proposed 150-turbine wind farm off Delaware's Rehoboth Beach intensified Saturday as the president of Delmarva Power published an op-ed letter in the Wilmington News Journal attacking Bluewater Wind project as too costly. "

There's that word "costly" again, just like in New York. Look for it to reappear in the upcoming debate in New Jersey, as details of the three competing projects are made available.

One of the interesting differences in the Garden State, however, will be the fact that a utility (PSEG) is one of the wind farm developers instead of the main opponent as has been the case in Delaware.

It should be an interesting discussion.

Week's top environmental & political news

Some of the top environmental and political news stories for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York and beyond appearing in EnviroPolitics from February 25 - 29, 2008.

New Jersey Environmental News

Report blasts plan for landfills, seeks probe When EnCap got state approval to transform Meadowlands landfills into a luxurious complex of golf courses, offices and hotel rooms, the company said it had the money and skills to get the $1 billion job done. But a report released yesterday by state Inspector General Mary Jane Cooper concluded EnCap significantly misrepresented its qualifications and financing and has asked the AG’s office to consider a criminal investigation Star-Ledger NY Times AP Press

The Miracle in the Meadowlands? As sold to the public, the EnCap Golf project sounded great. A vast stretch of Meadowlands swamps and landfills would morph from toxic wasteland into a bastion of the good life -- a golf-themed mini-city with upscale housing and easy access to New York Bergen Record

Horseshoe crab ban considered Legislation banning horseshoe crab harvesting along NJ shores was sent to the state Assembly yesterday, as lawmakers rushed to protect a shore bird that relies on crab eggs for food during spring migration Star-Ledger

Agriculture Department essential, state farmers say Farmers and agriculture supporters are sending the governor the message that his proposal to eliminate the state Department of Agriculture ”doesn’t save much at all and would decimate the leadership of the industry” AC press

Farmers say Corzine's scythe could be their ruin Gov. Jon Corzine's budget would leave the Garden State without a Department of Agriculture Star-Ledger
> Budget leaves farmers fuming Express-Times

Legal ruling seen as shield against property seizure In a decision that lawyers believe could affect the efforts of towns to take private property for private redevelopment, a state appeals court rules that local governments must give owners clear and timely warnings that they could lose their property Star-Ledger

Highlands Council's definition sparks enviros’ ire It looks like a simple question. What construction materials can water pass through? Gravel? Concrete? Grass? Star-Ledger

Outages cut radiation monitors' data stream New Jersey, which still had five radiation monitors that aren't working on and around the Oyster Creek nuclear plant site in Lacey last week, is confronting a new problem: repeated Internet outages AP Press

New Jersey Political News

Feds argue affair gave ex-mayor a motive Prosecutors plan to use tickets to a boxing match in Tennessee to help prove that former Newark Mayor Sharpe James had an intimate relationship with a city businesswoman who allegedly reaped nearly $700K in profits from questionable land sales Star-Ledger

Two UMDNJ doctors admit to embezzling Cardiologists plead guilty to federal embezzlement charges, admitting they were paid $870,000 as faculty members of the state's medical university for doing little more than referring patients Bergen Record

NJ braces for cuts sought by governor From emergency rooms in city hospitals to hayfields in horse country, residents began bracing on Wednesday for the upheaval NY Times

Corzine seeks to cut NJ budget and work force Declaring that the state had reached an irrevocable “turning point” because of years of bad fiscal habits, Gov. Jon S. Corzine proposed a budget on Tuesday that would reduce the state’s work force by 3,000 people, close three departments and prune expenses for services including colleges and hospitals NY Times

Booker might be witness in James trial Newark Mayor Cory Booker emerges as a potential witness in the corruption trial of his predecessor and former political rival Star-Ledger

Ashcroft relents, will testify on Christie contract Facing the threat of a subpoena, former Attorney General John Ashcroft agreed yesterday to testify before a congressional committee that has questioned a lucrative assignment he received from U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie to serve as a corporate monitor in a New Jersey case Star-Ledger

Jersey schools got tainted meat from California plant Tainted meat from a California meatpacking plant, which was shut down after the nation's largest beef recall, made its way to more than 100 New Jersey schools participating in federal lunch programs, state officials said yesterday Star-Ledger

Pennsylvania Environmental News

NRC chairman says report on napping guards at Peach Bottom not fully reviewed The chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission acknowledged Thursday that more should have been done to thoroughly investigate a tip that security guards routinely took naps while on the job at a Pennsylvania nuclear plant Delaware County Times

Biodiesel maker sets sights on Neville Island Diamond Star Energy CEO Susan Ostrowski has presented a plan to Neville commissioners and is seeking the township's support as her company works to convert an existing plant on the island to manufacture biodiesel, a clean-burning alternative fuel produced from renewable resources Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Discussion highlights divisive debate over Chesapeake cleanup Municipal officials charged Tuesday night that the Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy places an unfair burden on taxpayers while giving farmers, a major source of harmful nutrients, a free pass Carlisle Sentinel

Somerset windmill plan judged deficient by state A controversial proposal to build 30 wind turbines in an ecologically sensitive watershed containing a wilderness trout stream on Shaffer Mountain in northeastern Somerset County has been judged deficient by the state Post-Gazette

Scientist tells crowd bay needs a cleanup The tremendous cost of cleaning up Chesapeake Bay, and its coming impact on midstate residents, has been getting much attention. But the reasons often get overshadowed, a scientist told a panel discussion sponsored by the West Shore Chamber of Commerce Patriot-News

Governors defending use of coal State leaders pushing alternative energy are not shying from coal, a major culprit in global warming but also a homegrown energy source and an economic lifeline for many states Associated Press

Rendell intervention saved Fish and Boat exec’s job A move by the state Fish and Boat Commission board to remove its executive director was thwarted last month when a Gov. Rendell staffer intervened, according to sources close to the agency Times Leader

Bay cleanup costs loom for PA Few residents in the central Pennsylvania town of Huntingdon regularly, if ever, head to the Chesapeake Bay to enjoy its many recreational opportunities, though they may be saddled with higher sewer bills to help clean it up
Press-Enterprise

Pennsylvania Political News

State lawmakers want tighter scrutiny of slots Legislators signal greater scrutiny for PA's slot-machine law as they press for answers after a casino owner was charged with lying to gambling regulators to win his license Inquirer

Most doubt slots will yield tax cuts PA voters expect slot machines will raise an additional $1 billion a year by 2012, yet they're not so optimistic that the extra revenue will mean much of a property tax cut for them Patriot-News

Rendell: Subsidized health care would help small businesses Gov. Ed Rendell tells the House of Representatives Committee on Small Business that his plan to subsidize health care for the uninsured would relieve a burden on small businesses The Bulletin

PA smoking ban: Not if, but how One is a Vietnam veteran from north-central Pennsylvania, a lifelong smoker fighting for the rights of fellow vets to light up in VFW halls Inquirer

No country for old men? Seniors weigh in on McCain Frankie La Rosa likes everything about John McCain's politics. He likes his moderation. He likes his integrity. He even read one of his books. But when Pennsylvania's primary rolls around on April 22, he plans to vote for Hillary Rodham Clinton Morning Call

New York/Region/World

Hess to pay $1.1M fine for NY enviro violations Newsday
Spitzer calls off sale of land near Javits Center NY Sun
New York City's black taxis going green Reuters
Court upholds DEC on brownfields Times Union Ithaca Journal
Revenue estimates endanger NY budget Democrat & Chronicle
An experiment to get shellfish to tidy up a bit New York Times
Indian Point agrees to pay $650,000 siren fine Journal News
House votes to end big oil's tax breaks Washington Post
Alaska to sue BP over 2006 Prudhoe spill Reuters

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